About the last common ancestor, the universal life-tree and lateral gene transfer: a reappraisal
- PMID: 11069646
- DOI: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.02126.x
About the last common ancestor, the universal life-tree and lateral gene transfer: a reappraisal
Abstract
An organismal tree rooted in the bacterial branch and derived from a hyperthermophilic last common ancestor (LCA) is still widely assumed to represent the path followed by evolution from the most primeval cells to the three domains recognized among contemporary organisms: Bacteria, Archaea and Eucarya. In the past few years, however, more and more discrepancies between this pattern and individual protein trees have been brought to light. There has been an overall tendency to attribute these incongruities to widespread lateral gene transfer. However, recent developments, a reappraisal of earlier evidence and considerations of our own lead us to a quite different view. It would appear (i) that the role of lateral gene transfer was overemphasized in recent discussions of molecular phylogenies; (ii) that the LCA was probably a non-thermophilic protoeukaryote from which both Archaea and Bacteria emerged by reductive evolution but not as sister groups, in keeping with a current evolutionary scheme for the biosynthesis of membrane lipids; and (iii) that thermophilic Archaea may have been the first branch to diverge from the ancestral line.
Similar articles
-
Was our ancestor a hyperthermophilic procaryote?Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2002 Nov;133(3):677-88. doi: 10.1016/s1095-6433(02)00197-6. Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2002. PMID: 12443925 Review.
-
The last universal common ancestor: emergence, constitution and genetic legacy of an elusive forerunner.Biol Direct. 2008 Jul 9;3:29. doi: 10.1186/1745-6150-3-29. Biol Direct. 2008. PMID: 18613974 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Rooted phylogeny of the three superkingdoms.Biochimie. 2013 Aug;95(8):1593-604. doi: 10.1016/j.biochi.2013.04.016. Epub 2013 May 11. Biochimie. 2013. PMID: 23669449
-
The evolutionary history of protein fold families and proteomes confirms that the archaeal ancestor is more ancient than the ancestors of other superkingdoms.BMC Evol Biol. 2012 Jan 27;12:13. doi: 10.1186/1471-2148-12-13. BMC Evol Biol. 2012. PMID: 22284070 Free PMC article.
-
Toward automatic reconstruction of a highly resolved tree of life.Science. 2006 Mar 3;311(5765):1283-7. doi: 10.1126/science.1123061. Science. 2006. PMID: 16513982
Cited by
-
HSP90 Molecular Chaperones, Metabolic Rewiring, and Epigenetics: Impact on Tumor Progression and Perspective for Anticancer Therapy.Cells. 2019 Jun 3;8(6):532. doi: 10.3390/cells8060532. Cells. 2019. PMID: 31163702 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Heat shock proteins and cancer: intracellular chaperones or extracellular signalling ligands?Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018 Jan 19;373(1738):20160524. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2016.0524. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2018. PMID: 29203709 Free PMC article. Review.
-
The natural history of molecular functions inferred from an extensive phylogenomic analysis of gene ontology data.PLoS One. 2017 May 3;12(5):e0176129. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0176129. eCollection 2017. PLoS One. 2017. PMID: 28467492 Free PMC article.
-
Mechanisms of Evolutionary Innovation Point to Genetic Control Logic as the Key Difference Between Prokaryotes and Eukaryotes.J Mol Evol. 2015 Aug;81(1-2):34-53. doi: 10.1007/s00239-015-9688-6. Epub 2015 Jul 25. J Mol Evol. 2015. PMID: 26208881
-
Primal eukaryogenesis: on the communal nature of precellular States, ancestral to modern life.Life (Basel). 2012 Jan 23;2(1):170-212. doi: 10.3390/life2010170. Life (Basel). 2012. PMID: 25382122 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
Substances
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Research Materials
Miscellaneous